Across the nation.

Deputies Taped As They Clubbed 2 Suspects

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Two suspected illegal immigrant smugglers were clubbed by sheriff's deputies Monday after a high-speed freeway chase that started near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The incident, captured on video by a TV news helicopter overhead, showed a Riverside County deputy delivering at least six blows with a nightstick to one suspect even after the man was lying face down on the ground.

The officer then grabbed the second suspect by the hair -- either a woman or a long-haired man -- pulling the person from the cab of the pickup and beating the suspect with the nightstick as reinforcements arrived to handcuff the pair, according to the TV report. At least one other officer struck the second suspect.

As many as 20 illegal immigrants who were in the rusting pickup jumped out and ran after the vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the freeway in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte. They were rounded up by police and immigration officers after fleeing into a nearby plant nursery.